Kelley L Cox/US PresswireHiroki Kuroda went 13-16 with a 3.07 ERA last season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Remember Friday the 13th as the night in January when the Yankees’ eerily silent off-season suddenly got loud. And who knows? Come October, you might just remember it as the night the Yankees added the starting pitching they needed to win another title.

In the time it takes the Yankees and Boston Red Sox to play about four innings, general manager Brian Cashman added two arms to what was once a thin rotation. From Seattle comes right-hander Michael Pineda, an intimidating, 6-7, 260-pounder who was an American League All-Star as a rookie last season. And from Los Angeles comes 36-year old Japanese right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, who has won 41 games in four big-league seasons.

Pineda, who throws in the mid- to high-90s with a lethal slider, figures to step right into the No. 2 spot in the Yankee rotation behind CC Sabathia. For the Mariners last season, Pineda struck out 173 in 171 innings and held opposing hitters to a .211 batting average. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t project him as a No. 1 down the road,” one American League scout said. “He’s got a big, big arm.”

Kuroda, who had an ERA of 3.07 in 2011, figures to be either a No. 3 or 4 starter, depending on how 16-game winner Ivan Nova gets out of the gate. “A dependable guy who will give them quality innings,” the scout said. “An upgrade on what they had.”

The only bitter pill the Yankees had to swallow was losing Jesus Montero, the 22-year-old catcher who has been the Yankees’ best hitting prospect for some time. In his first 61 big-league at-bats, Montero hit .328 with four home runs and a .590 slugging percentage. Scouts seem to be in complete agreement that Montero is going to be a special hitter. “He’s got lightning in his bat,” the scout said. “He could be another Miguel Cabrera.”

The problem, however, was going to be how to find sufficient at-bats for Montero, who is not even close to being the type of defense-first catcher favored by manager Joe Girardi. Those defensive issues made Montero expendable when the right deal finally came along. As for Kuroda, he agreed to a one-year contract reported to be worth $10 million.

In short, Cashman achieved his objectives without costing the Yankees a lot of money.

“There are no sure things in this game,” the scout said. “So you can’t just put down X number of wins for Pineda and Kuroda. But you have to like the way, in a couple of hours, they changed a huge question mark, their rotation, into something much better.”

Indeed, from the moment the Yankees bowed out of the American League Division Series in October, losing a decisive Game 5 at home to the Detroit Tigers, Cashman said his one and only goal this off-season was to improve his team’s pitching. When it didn’t happen at the winter meetings, Cashman shrugged and preached patience. But as December turned to January, it was starting to look like the Yankees would head to Tampa with Sabathia and Nova followed by some combination of Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett and Freddy Garcia. Now, it appears Hughes, Burnett and Garcia will have to battle for one spot. Or Hughes could return to the bullpen, where he excelled in 2009.

You would also have to believe the Yankees will actively look to move Burnett, even if it means paying a large portion of his contract over the next two seasons. Or, for that matter, should Hughes emerge as the best man for a spot in the rotation, Garcia could draw some trade interest. At just $4 million, the veteran right-hander is a bargain for most any team.

The Yankees can also stand up tall as an organization because they have not had to part with Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances, their two prized pitching prospects. They can send them both back to Scranton for more Triple-A seasoning. Or, who knows, maybe some team will come calling and blow them away with an offer for one of them.

As we learned on Friday the 13th, anything is possible. Even when all seems silent.